Irony
by ArtsyMew
Summary: Besides frustration, confusion, and possibly scared (although she would never admit it), irony was the term May would use to describe the situation she had gotten herself into. One shot! Minor ContestShipping


_A/N: Hey! This is my very first one-shot about Contestshipping! I'm no experienced writer, but __I guess once you get an idea you just have to write it, don't you? It's a lot harder than it looks._

_To clear things up, this story takes place after they competed in the Jhoto Grand Festival. May is taking a break from coordinating and decides to go sight seeing in the Unova region, currently trying to reach Castelia City. But when she starts to wander off in her thoughts, she gets lost. What will she do? Remember the key word: Irony._

* * *

She somehow knew this was going to happen, but ignored listening to her conscious anyway.

Of course she had to be stubborn and refuse to ask directions before entering the Mew- forsaken Pinwheel Forest, thinking that with all the experience she gained from her travels she would be able to get through it in no time and still be able to shop and sight-see when she arrived at Castelia. Sadly, this wasn't the case.

After a couple of hours of wandering around and switching her Pokemon out for some company, she ended up walking by herself, guided by her thoughts. Although she disliked admitting it, she needed someone to help her exit this Celebi damned forest.

Right now she could faintly see the sun slowly setting; some of its rays of light glimmering through the leaves of the trees as the sky faded into a color that made it seem to be on fire. Clearly, it wouldn't be long until the only source of any light where the stars. She also took into count that the last time she had eaten anything was before she left Nacrane City, at that little café close not too far from the entrance to this maze.

'_So much for being independent', _she thought.

As If her own mind started teasing her, she remembered how her long time rival and friend, Drew, always seemed to travel with his Pokemon as his only source of companionship, ever since their younger days in Hoenn. In fact, he was the one who inspired her to strive to be independent when she battled against him after her loss to Solidad in the Kanto Grand Festival. Why did her brain conjured such memories , she didn't know.

"This is not the time to compare yourself to your rivals, May," she scolded herself. At the sound of her stomach grumbling loudly, she knew that it was necessary to find at least something to eat. After 10 minutes of searching, hopelessness started to consume her when suddenly, she heard the cry of a recently awakened Hoothoot up in one of the jade colored trees. She turned up to the sound of said cry and saw that, not too far above her, was a branch of ripe Bluk berries.

The memories started flooding while the scene replayed itself in her mind: How before her first Pokémon contest Mr. Big had asked her to look for some Bluk berries, since her Torchic - now a Blaziken – ate them all. And then once Torchic had found them, the branched snapped after ithad tried to grab them and Drew caught them, telling her he wanted to battle first if she wanted them back. How she surprised him in battle by nailing Beautifly's Silver Wind for the first time, even though they never finished said battle because Team Rocket intervened and stole the berries, which Drew helped them retrieve without hesitation; or even asking him to help for that matter.

Determined by hunger and memories of rivalry, May started climbing the surprisingly taller than-it-seemed maple tree. Climbing was never her forte, so much like what happened to her Torchic a few years ago while trying to reach the Bluk berry branch; she slipped, tumbled and fell a few times. The same scene kept repeating itself in her head as a motivation, until she finally managed to jump while she climbed and took hold of the branch with the berries she'd been striving for. Now her only problem was getting down…

May wasn't afraid of heights, though she knew that a drop from where she was meant she'd definitely break an ankle or her wrist, if she was lucky.

Suddenly, the brunette heard a snap. With her suspicions confirmed before even turning up to look, the branch that she was holding on to with the berries started to break.

"Oh, the_ irony_…" she groaned.

Ironically as it was, a few years ago when the same situation happened to her little Torchic, May was the one to save it. This time though, it was unlikely that she would be able to catch herself.

Before she could call out her Blaziken, the branch snapped. While falling approximately 20 ft into demise, May had no time to even react. That she probably had a chance of dying was in the least of her worries, the worry that was soon becoming a reality was that she would be alone, no one would be there to catch her when she fell.

Alone.

Or so she thought.

"Butterfree, Confusion!" A voice boomed, snapping her out of her thoughts instantly.

Following whoever-its-trainer was command, the Butterfly Pokémon let out a cry of its name and before a scream escaped May's throat when she notice her current situation, a light blue aura enveloped the Hoenn native coordinator and gently placed her upward on the dirt covered ground that otherwise she would have made impact with. The brunette just stood there in a state of shock, recovering from her near death experience. She didn't seem notice that person who saved her life a few seconds ago had been calling her name, several times.

"…May!" Said person called once more, making her perk out of sudden disturbance. She let out a breath she forgot was holding, as well as tears. May's knees buckled out on the cold forest floor, and streams of unshod tears started making their way down her face. Why she started crying all of the sudden was unexpected to her, but it felt relieving. She didn't forget that someone was watching her cry out of the blue; heck, she couldn't care less about being embarrassed. All that mattered to her in that moment was that she wasn't alone, she was alive. And the tight embrace she felt right after she started crying reminded her of that.

"It's alright…" the stranger said again in that calm, soothing voice that rang a bell while tightening the hug, making her feel much better._ 'Who is this stranger?' _she thought_. _No, it wasn't a stranger. That voice was all too familiar to be from someone she didn't know. Or else her instincts wouldn't have let said 'stranger' hug her.

'_Who could it be?'_

Said 'stranger' noticed the look of confusion plastered on her face. He still didn't break the embrace though; he wouldn't unless May wanted to. It was clear that she needed someone, him in this case, to comfort her. He may be arrogant, but he wasn't heartless. As if contradicting that statement, an amused smirk started itching its way on his face while he imagined the reaction she would have when she noticed it was him. He enjoyed watching her reactions whenever they bickered, he thought they were cute and was not ashamed to admit it.

Still, said reaction he was waiting for wouldn't happen any time soon if she kept her face hidden in the fabric of his jacket.

He sighed, knowing that 'comforting time' was over, she needed to pick herself up and dust herself off as cheesy as it sounded. He looked over at his Butterfree, who was tilting its head to the side, as if asking him _'Well, what now? '_ . He took notice of the now-broken branch, laying beside them, from which May was holding on to while he was watching her trying to climb the tree in amusement, and also the one he – well, his Pokémon- saved her falling from. Double taking, he noticed that the branch was a Bluk berry branch.

'_Oh, the irony…' _he thought, remembering the events of that fateful day on which they met. Deciding that this was the time to break the embrace, he decided to have a little fun for the sake of reliving the past.

"Hey Butterfree", he said to his Bug Type Pokémon. "That last attack had some real art to it!"

May's once confused expression now had surprise all over it. Carefully raising her head up, her suspicions were confirmed when she looked into those jade-colored eyes that reminded her of those pine trees she saw during the day. She definitely knew this person.

Or in other words, her_ rival._

'_Damn you, irony.'_

Sudden realization hit her. Her rival, of all people, was _hugging _her.

And she was actually _enjoying_ it.

"D-Drew?!" she stuttered, backing away with her face flushed while said rival laughed. Now _this_ was the reaction he had expected.

"No need to thank me…" he said sarcastically while recovering his breath from the laughter. Even the compound eyed Pokémon was giggling at the scene happening below it.

"Why should I thank-?!...Oh!…" she started with rage but soon realizing that without his help; even if it was Drew who would no doubt tease her later about this, had saved her life.

"…Hm? What was that, May?" he said with his teasing voice that she felt relieved to hear for once.

"Um…thanks, Drew. I definitely owe you one." She said, still quite embarrassed.

The chartreuse-haired coordinator was about to tease her once more, but decided against it once he saw the look of guilt on his friend's face. He was still quite shaken, terrified even about what had just happened. Luckily he was passing by the same route when he found May trying to climb the damn tree, but the amusement soon disappeared when he saw her fall. He didn't even want to think of what would've happened otherwise.

"No problem," he said as a rare smile made an appearance on his face. May's expression changed from guilt to curiosity. It surprised her whenever Drew smiled, it was always that smirk he had practically glued to his face while saying a smart comeback whenever they argued. To see him smile, at her no-less, was a sight she would never get enough of, enhancing his already handsome features.

Though he was her rival, she couldn't deny that he was attractive.

They both became entranced with each other's gaze to the point where neither the other would think of looking away, that if it wouldn't have been for Butterfree's light Gust attack towards them, they probably would've stayed like that for who knows how long.

"-Freeee!" the Butterfly Pokemon cried as it created a cold breeze to get both of the coordinators attention.

They immediately turned away from each other, trying to hide the blush that was beginning to form on their faces. It didn't make much of a difference anyway, since the remaining sunlight barely went through the leaves of the tall pines. Awkward silence soon followed, and Drew mentally cursed his Butterfree for ruining the moment. He flipped the hair out of his face from habit and started small talk with the doe-eyed coordinator.

"So, how long has it been?", he started, facing the brunette. "Two, three weeks perhaps?"

"It feels much longer than that, to be honest." May said, returning the gaze at her rival. Drew looked at her questionably, but soon ignored it by teasing her just for good measure.

"You finally admit that you missed me? I'm flattered!", he mocked. Though it was a tease, deep down the meaning of his words were genuine.

"Yeah...!" she covered her mouth with both hands when she noticed what she had said. It wasn't like she didn't mean those words; the fact that she missed her rivals company of all people made her feel inferior. If she ever wanted to be independent, like him, this was definitely not the first step.

When Drew heard what May responded, he felt like a Sawsbuck in headlights. He never thought that she would actually admit that she _missed_ _him_. He felt a mix of surprise, confusion and… bliss? He wasn't sure what to think. It only took one word that she said was enough to project a blank stare on his face.

"…I'm sorry", he heard her mumble, and was confused by the sudden apology. "For causing you so much trouble, I mean. Thanks again and…see you soon I guess"

The train of thoughts in Drew's mind immediately crashed, and before his rival could walk past him as well as stop the words from coming out of his mouth, he called her name.

"May!" he said in a desperate tone, completely ignoring the fact that he unconsciously grabbed her wrist.

May didn't even finish processing what just happened when she looked Drew in the eyes and saw pure determination, worry and…something more? She couldn't put her finger on it.

"You're headed for Castelia, right?" he asked. She nodded, unsure of where this was going. "Alright, then how about…we go… together?" He asked cautiously, like he was afraid he might scare her with the suggestion.

Drew wasn't the type of person to enjoy physical contact; the most he ever gave was a handshake. But when May tackled him with a hug, he knew that he had never felt so complete. One second she was standing there utterly dumbstruck, and the next his air was knocked out by her action of hugging -more like clinging to him, but he didn't mind at all. Surprising even himself, he hugged her back even tighter. Almost to the desire of craving her touch.

"...Thank you, Drew", she mumbled into the side of his neck.

That's when it clicked in Drew's mind.

He noticed what was bugging May: she was lonely. She had traveled through Jhoto before without Ash and Co., but they (including Solidad and Harley) would always meet up and travel together from time to time. This season, they took separate ways, and whenever he and May casually encountered each other in a Contest Hall or a Pokemon Center, she looked somewhat distant. Know that he thought about it, he also felt distant when he saw her in that mood.

He mentally face palmed for not noticing sooner.

After a few seconds of enjoying their second, but more cheerful embrace of the day, they let go. Feeling reluctant, but knowing that they needed to continue to get to their destination.

"So, I suppose that's a yes?" Drew asked. May giggled for what felt like the first time in a while.

"Only if when we get there, you treat us to some of those famous Castelia cones people seem to always talk about" she said, with a beaming expression. "I'm starving!"

Drew shook his head, but chuckled at her attitude. "All you ever think about is food, May". He stated, looking at her in a caring way that she would never notice. Slowly but surely, an idea began forming in his mind.

"Hey May!" said girl turned around to the sound of the voice and saw Drew, on top of a middle sized rock, with one hand in his pocket while the other was holding on to the Bluk berries, a smug and mischievous look on his face.

"Give those back right now Drew!" May demanded, though she had a feeling where things were heading. _'Wait a second, he's not going to -'_

"Alright" he said, interrupting her thoughts and quickly changing his tone to a more playful one. "All you have to do is catch me first!". With that said, he jumped off the rock and ran for his dear life in the right direction towards Castelia City.

"DREW, YOU'RE TOASTED!" She yelled while running towards the direction of her jade eyed color rival. She could hear his amused laughter ahead of her, but she wouldn't have it any other way. She didn't feel alone anymore. And she was sure that this travel with Drew wouldn't be her last.

For once, irony was on her side.

* * *

_Crappiest ending ever.__  
_

_Please_ review_ and _fave_ if you liked it! Or if you must, don't feel bad about giving me tips/constructive criticism._

_\- MM_


End file.
